B.
Icons
Behind the scenes
Congratulations...
... to Greer Twiss and Marti Friedlander, who have just received Icon Awards – the Arts Foundation's highest honour. They join a most exclusive circle of only twenty living recipients, which includes Ralph Hotere, Milan Mrkusich, Ans Westra, Margaret Mahy and Sir Peter Jackson. The Foundation describes its Icons as 'influential and inspirational artists' who have made a lasting impact on both their art form and New Zealand culture.
Like Greer, Marti is represented by several works in the Gallery's collection, and her wonderful (I'm deliberately not saying 'iconic') image of Olivia Spencer Bower will be part of the Gallery's updated collection hang when we reopen.
Marti Friedlander Olivia Spencer Bower – The artist's living room 1978. Photograph. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 1998. Reproduced courtesy of Marti Friedlander
Related
Collection
Marti Friedlander Self Portrait
Marti Friedlander is best known for photographing other people, but in this early, evanescent self-portrait she instead focuses the lens on herself. Caught in a mirror as she looks down into her Rolleicord camera, natural light falls gently across her face from one direction. Marti preferred natural light to flash in her photography, saying “… available light means everything to me”. Taken just a few years after she made Aoteaora New Zealand her home in 1958, Marti went on to become one of the country’s most respected photographers over the course of her five-decade career.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )
Collection
Marti Friedlander Tony Fomison / Philip Clairmont
Here Marti Friedlander has created an iconic image of two important New Zealand artists. She captures something of their friendship, together in the living room of fellow artist, Alan Maddox (1948 -2000). Tony Fomison (1939 -1990) and Philip Clairmont (1949 -1984) shared a studio in the early 1970s. This is one of a series of documentary photographs Friedlander made of New Zealand artists from 1977 to 1979. Although image records one particular moment, it also speaks eloquently of the character of these two bohemian artists. Friedlander was born in London, studied photography at Bloomsbury Technical School and worked as a photography studio assistant in London. In 1957 she travelled through Europe, photographing people and places as a visual diary. Friedlander arrived in Auckland with her New Zealand husband, Gerrard, in 1958. During 1963 she travelled to Israel, lived in Tel Aviv and studied Hebrew. On her return to New Zealand she began taking photographs full-time. She was awarded the Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit in 1999.
Collection
Marti Friedlander Olivia Spencer Bower - The Artist’s Living Room
Olivia Spencer Bower (1905–1982) was a significant Canterbury artist and this photographic portrait of her is part of a series of New Zealand artists by Marti Friedlander. She has chosen to portray Spencer Bower in her domestic environment, showing the many artworks in her living room. The portrait reveals Spencer Bower’s character as both mischievous and independent. The way the light falls on her subject is often the catalyst for when Friedlander chooses to press the shutter. Here the softness of the atmosphere heightens this evocative moment in time. Friedlander was born in London, she studied photography at Bloomsbury Technical School and worked as a studio assistant for portrait photographer Douglas Glass and fashion photographer Gordon Crocker. She arrived in Auckland with her New Zealand husband Gerrard in 1958. However, it was not until 1964, after returning from a year in Israel and Europe, that Friedlander began taking photographs full-time. She was awarded a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit in 1999.
Collection
Marti Friedlander Ralph Hotere - The Artist’s Studio, Port Chalmers
This photograph of Dunedin artist Ralph Hotere is part of a series of portraits of New Zealand artists by Marti Friedlander, taken between 1977 and 1979. She was inspired to photograph living artists after reading Alexander Liberman’s book The Artist in his Studio. Here the key elements of hand and easel anchor the image as Hotere looks away from the camera. He is relaxed and contemplative, yet his penetrating self-awareness is framed by the intense light falling on his face and hair. Friedlander was born in London, she studied photography at Bloomsbury Technical School and worked as a studio assistant for portrait photographer Douglas Glass and fashion photographer Gordon Crocker. She arrived in Auckland with her New Zealand husband Gerrard in 1958. Friedlander’s first photographs in New Zealand were of a protest meeting in 1960 but it was not until 1964, after returning from a year in Israel and Europe, that she began taking photographs full-time. She was awarded a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit in 1999.
